A motor vehicle such as a hatchback vehicle or a wagon has a luggage space located in a rear part of the vehicle body and communicating with the passenger compartment. Such a luggage space is sometimes concealed from view by using a tonneau cover sheet that extends above the luggage space.
A tonneau cover sheet is typically wound around a spool shaft inside an outer tube so that a flexible cover sheet may be paid out and refracted from and onto the spool shaft via a longitudinal slot formed in the outer tube. The free edge or outer edge of the flexible cover sheet is provided with a cover handle that extends out of the slot of the outer tube even when the flexible cover sheet is fully wound around the spool shaft. See Japanese patent application No. 2006-264627 (patent document 1) for such an example.
When in use, the outer tube is typically placed behind the seat back of the rear seat adjacent to the upper end of the seat back, and extends horizontal across both the width and length of the luggage space. Therefore, when the rear seat is configured to be folded forward so as to enlarge the luggage space, the outer tube interferes with such a movement of the seat back of the rear seat.
Therefore, it has been practiced to allow the retractable tonneau cover assembly to be removed from the normal position, and stowed under the floor of the luggage space or an otherwise no-interfering location of the vehicle body when the seat back of the rear seat is to be folded forward so as to enlarge the available luggage space. See Japanese patent application No. 2000-280828 (patent document 2) for such an example.
When the retractable tonneau cover assembly is to be stowed under the floor of the luggage space, the outer tube is required to be received in an as small a recess as possible. Also, the recess may not cause damage to the retractor tube when the vehicle body is subjected to impacts and vibrations, and should allow the outer tube to be taken out and stowed with ease. However, the leading edge or free end of the flexible sheet is typically provided with a rigid free end member having a substantial width and an arcuate edge so as to conform to the inner profile of the tailgate and minimize a gap which is otherwise defined between the free end of the flexible cover sheet and the opposing inner surface of the tailgate. Therefore, the recess for stowing the tonneau cover assembly is required to be large enough not only to accommodate the outer tube but also the free end member extending therefrom. This causes the width (in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body) of the recess to be undesirably great, and the space under the floor of the luggage space which can be otherwise used for stowing tools and luggage to be undesirably small.